Aerin Frankel goes to cover a puck
(Photo via PWHL)

That’s right. You get two previews from me because for some reason there are quite a few topics to talk about before the 2023-24 PWHL season starts. This is going to be a deep dive into the goalie trios of each PWHL team. We’re going to cover who these goalies are, season expectations, and scenarios in which they’ll find optimal success.

We’re coming full circle as when the PWHL draft was announced, at Giants in the Crease I did an article on the potential available goalies to pick from putting them in different tiers. Now it’s time to dive back into the results of the draft and the signings to see where each team stands in the crease.

PWHL Boston goalies: Aerin Frankel, Emma Soderberg, Cami Kronish

There’s been quite a bit of chatter about how talented their goalie trio is and it’s hard to argue against the general consensus that Boston has one of the best trios in the league, if not the best trio. You have Aerin Frankel who had a storied NCAA career and recently is racking up quite a few wins for the USA National Team. Then there’s Emma Söderberg with quite the NCAA career of her own and is starting her own run as the Swedish National Team no. 1 goalie. To top it all off is Cami Kronish who recently just won the NCAA National Championship (2023) in her first year as a no. 1 goalie with the University of Wisconsin.

Aerin Frankel (Signed Three-Years), Boston

The résumé that Aerin Frankel is putting together while only being 24 years old is quickly having her approach elite territory with it looking likely she’s going to put herself in that category this coming season. Frankel has two Top 10 Patty Kazmaier Award Finalist finishes, a Top 3 Patty Kazmaier Award Finalist finish, and was awarded the Patty Kazmaier Award in her five years in the NCAA which is an incredible résumé. She followed that up by joining the PWHPA where she finished 3rd in GSAA (3.010 Goals Saved Above Average), 3rd in QS% (0.714 Quality Starts Percentage), and 1st in SV% (0.937 Save Percentage). With that performance she was given the keys to the USA crease at the 2023 World Hockey Championships (WHC) and never looked back. At the 2023 WHC Frankel finished tied 4th in GSAA (2.784), 3rd in QS% (0.833), and tied 1st in SV% (0.957) leading the USA to the Gold Medal. With such a high-class résumé it’s unsurprising Frankel was signed to a three-year contract as one of the first PWHL Boston signees.

If you’ve seen Frankel you’ll have noticed she’s not a big goalie. Elite Prospects lists Frankel at 5’ 5” 150lbs which seems about right. She doesn’t have the luxury of making saves by having even an average frame and she hasn’t earned this résumé through sheer dumb luck. What Frankel brings to the table is an elite level of agility and mobility, which combined with a very good ability to read the play ensures she’s always in position for the shot. Or at the very least is giving herself an opportunity to make the save. Also helps she has a very good eye for the puck and high-end reaction speed to make those last-second saves. She’s all over the crease yet it’s in a controlled way. She’s not out of position and she’s not allowing pucks to just go through her. Just when you think you might have some open net there’s Frankel coming out of nowhere.

Frankel is an obvious leading candidate for the Manon Rhéaume Trophy (personal working title for PWHL Goalie of the Year). With the way the Boston roster is constructed, it’s looking like Frankel is going to need to be prepared for some high-event hockey which will work in her favour if the Boston defensive play can push those events to being in-close. With Frankel’s size, you DON’T want to give time and space to the puck carrier in the mid-range part of the defensive zone. This is because they’ll have more time to pick their spot on Frankel, which is easier to do at her height, or allow east-west passing plays that force Frankel into a slide opening up the top part of the net. Boston’s goal will be forcing players to get in close via north-south plays thereby minimizing Frankel’s size disadvantage. They do that and Frankel will look like a Rhéaume Trophy winner.

Emma Söderberg (Signed Two-Years), Boston


Despite having already signed Aerin Frankel to a three-year contract, Boston went with a philosophy of “quality depth is best” at the goalie position and picked up Emma Söderberg in the 10th round of the PWHL Inaugural Draft. It’s a short season but also a condensed season and the idea of being the First Ever PWHL Champion looks good in a marketing campaign. So, if for whatever reason Frankel goes down with an injury Boston has a very suitable candidate to take the no. 1 role in Söderberg. Her résumé leaves few reasons to be concerned as she’s a two-time WCHA (Western Collegiate Hockey Association) Goalie of the Year and went to a NCAA National Championship leaving as a finalist. When Sara Grahn couldn’t play in the 2022 Olympics Söderberg stepped up with five starts posting a 0.913 SV%, 0.836 GSAA, and 0.800 QS%. Then Söderberg comes into the 2023 WHC and despite a bad start (6-2 loss to Germany) she took the no. 1 role from Grahn. We all know the story from there as Söderberg was the key reason Sweden almost knocked Canada out of the tournament in the quarterfinal.

If you’re unfamiliar with what the typical Swedish goalie looks like, Emma Söderberg is an example of how the Swedes develop their goalies. What you can expect from Söderberg is a high level of consistent positionally strong play. What has frustrated teams for years, and most recently Canada, is Söderberg’s ability to not give up anything other than the space around her which is more than what Frankel covers as Söderberg is 5’ 7” 152lbs, according to Elite Prospects. She’s very refined in how she deploys her positioning for maximum net coverage which makes her average frame look even bigger. It’s tough to score on a goalie who just positions herself as smartly as Söderberg does and as efficiently as she does. This makes it rather easy to play defense in front of her.

Now where Söderberg is vulnerable is she doesn’t have a high level of mobility or agility. She’s not a fast goalie in most aspects of the game which means there are parts of her games opposing teams will find easier to exploit than Frankel’s weaknesses. Söderberg’s play style does require her to get aggressive especially on rushes which means any lateral passes on the rush she’s going to have a tough time getting across on if the opposing players force her to cover a lot of ground. Also due to Söderberg’s penchant for positioning if you can move the puck via pass and take a shot immediately you stand a chance at catching her not being set. Still not a lot of easy exploits which means any transition from Frankel to Söderberg, even without a Frankel injury, on a game-to-game basis will be easy for Boston to implement.

Cami Kronish (Signed One-Year)

If Aerin Frankel is the cake foundation, Emma Söderberg the icing, then Cami Kronish is the sprinkles on top of the cake. I believe Boston has created one of the most ideal goalie trios in terms of talent, how the goalies will fit in their roles, and how easy it’s going to be for the team to play defensively in front of them. Any time you go from your no. 1 goalie to your no. 3 goalie you’re going to have to change how you play defensively, but what Danielle Marmer has done is ensure that Courtney Kessel doesn’t have a difficult time changing how the team plays defensively no matter who is in net. Kronish is a fascinating add to the team as she’s 23-year-old fitting in with 24-year-old Frankel and 25-year-old Söderberg. She also just came into the goalie limelight last season as she was not only the no. 1 goalie for the University of Wisconsin for the first time ever but also the first time she played more than five games in a season.

To go from an NCAA career high of five games in a season to 31 games in a season is a huge leap. Add in a National Championship and what a story that is. What everyone takes from that story is up to them, what I think should be taken from the story is Kronish is the type of goalie you can win with. That type specifically is a goalie with a large frame, in the case of Kronish an impressive 6’ 0”, and good positioning can get you far if you can play very well defensively in front of them. Kronish’s play style can be summed up as a wall that moves. Being one of the largest goalies around isn’t enough to win. What Kronish does is just be consistent in how she plays as she doesn’t overextend herself and try to be more than what she is. If she trusts her process and the defensive play in front of her, she’s frustrating to score on.

The Czech National Team and the University of Wisconsin showed the blueprint on how to play in front of a goalie like Kronish. Firstly you have to limit how much your goalie is forced to move especially laterally. Kronish is not going to be making last-second saves on lateral passes very often. Secondly, Boston is going to need to limit the amount of chaos that occurs right in front of the net which means getting on rebounds quickly which they’ll have practice with as both Frankel and Söderberg don’t have stellar rebound control themselves. Thirdly Boston needs to turn the defensive zone into the hockey equivalent of No Man’s Land. Should be an absolute quagmire that makes it seem as though opposing teams are skating in mud to make it easier for Kronish to keep up. If it ever gets down to Kronish needing to play significant ice time keep your hope Boston fans, she can do it.

PWHL Minnesota goalies: Nicole Hensley, Maddie Rooney, Amanda Leveille

There was a decent sized pool of goalie talent available to PWHL teams for them to build out their depth and while Minnesota did not end up with a Tier 1 or Tier 2 goalie, they’re not lacking for options in their goalie trio. The question when it comes to Minnesota is do they have the goalies that fit how they’re going to play because they didn’t end up with goalies that will do fine in just any system. Nicole Hensley, Maddie Rooney, and Amanda Leveille are all talented goalies but they’re going to need some help up front. Help that might not be forthcoming if The Ice Garden Season Preview Roundtable ends up being accurate where Minnesota was consistently picked to be a bottom team. Minnesota looks built to play mid-to-low event hockey and win by capitalizing on their chances better than their opponents. I don’t know if they will do that, but they need to defend against it happening to them. If that is the case, then does Natalie Darwitz have the right goalie compilation for the season?

Nicole Hensley (Signed Three-Years)

Minnesota is going to be running with the 2nd youngest roster (26.11yo average) in the PWHL and when you remove the goalies they have the youngest roster at an average 25.87 years old. It makes sense that when Natalie Darwitz went into the 2023 PWHL Inaugural Draft her pick in the 2nd Round was veteran 29 year old Nicole Hensley. If you wanted a goalie who’s seen it all and done it all, Hensley is your goalie. In the NCAA she put up good numbers on a bad Lindenwood University team keeping them competitive every game. She’s played in seven tournaments with the USA National Senior Team and taken on the no. 1 role in three of them. In her one season in the NWHL/PHF Hensley was in a tandem role with Shannon Szabados and played in the Isobel Cup Final losing 2-1 in Overtime. To top it all off Hensley played this past season in the PWHPA where she was the only goalie on her team to win a game on a team that was not good in Team Sonnet. She posted some very respectable numbers considering the circumstances as in 13 starts Hensley posted the 5th highest SV% (0.921), 7th highest GSAA (0.007), and 4th highest QS% (0.521).

As mentioned above Minnesota doesn’t look like it’s going to be a team that is going to be involved in high event hockey. What we’re probably looking at is a team that wants to play “let’s see which one of us makes a mistake first” or “we’re going to rope-a-dope ala the Minnesota Whitecaps”. Either way good defensive play is going to be a high priority for Minnesota which is an environment that Hensley should find success in. If you want to know what Emma Söderberg will look like in four years, it’s Nicole Hensley. There are few goalies out there that are positionally proficient as Hensley is. Standing at 5’ 6” 154lbs, Hensley makes herself look bigger because she’s just so smart in how she positions herself. The shooter is forced to aim around her or move the puck to another player for a better angle. Hensley makes it incredibly easy for teams to play defensively in front of her which is a reason for why wherever she goes you’ll notice her SV% is quite good despite the team not winning a lot of games.

The great thing about Hensley is you don’t even need to play particularly well in front of her, you just have to ensure you’re not allowing the type of chances she struggles with. Minnesota is a team that’s going to be able to allow opposing teams to play a lot in the long-to-mid-range areas of the defensive zone so Hensley can be at her best using her positioning. It will also give Hensley time to react as she’s not slow but fast reaction speed isn’t really an asset. She moves efficiently, not quickly. Protect the front of the net is going to be drilled into heads of the Minnesota players as you don’t want Hensley to have to fight through screens and she doesn’t have the inner edge control to see success if the play is in-close for long. The biggest factor will be how Minnesota defends the rush. If they can force shots and take away passing options, Hensley will clean up. If they allow passing Hensley is going to have a bad time.

Maddie Rooney (Signed Two-Years)

As mentioned above Minnesota is looking to play a certain way defensively that will hopefully result in success from Nicole Hensley. If Minnesota can’t find success playing defensively that way General Manager Natalie Darwitz is still going to be giving her team a chance at winning by bringing in Maddie Rooney. In the NCAA Rooney was very good for the University of Minnesota-Duluth while posting two seasons above a 0.930 SV%. Rooney is also known as the goalie who helped end the USA’s Gold Medal drought at the Olympics winning 3-2 in the shootout over Canada. That’s pretty much been the peak though of Rooney’s career so far as she got games at the 2022 WHC and Olympics, though not as the no. 1 goalie. Starting at the 2023 WHC and coming into the 23/24 hockey season, Rooney has lost her spot on the USA National Team. If Rooney wants to put herself back in the USA Hockey rotation she’s going to need a big year.

Not many goalies like chaos but Rooney embraces it. She wants the game to come right to her doorstep because that’s where she does her best work. Rooney is quite good at covering the lower portion of the net through very good inner edge control. She’s agile in a way most goalies can only hope to be and is able to manipulate her edges no matter how wide her base is or even if she’s on her knees. This is why if the defensive play of Minnesota fails to meet the standards necessary to create success for Hensley you can go to Rooney who will deal with what will probably be a more chaotic situation. Rooney is at her best when she just needs to react and be fast. She wants high-event hockey to keep her moving and so she doesn’t have to predict what’s about to happen next.

Where Rooney struggles, and the reason why she’s currently on the outside looking in for USA Hockey, is that her reactive style doesn’t do well against teams that can afford to play with patience. The pre-game video scouting on Rooney should avoid getting right up to the crease as she has the advantage there. There are going to be spots in the zone where Rooney gets wide in her base which means she’s leaving room up top. Find those spots and you’ll score some easier goals. She’s not a big goalie and if you can force her to move a lot, especially laterally, she’s going to go into slides which will also leave quite a bit of room up top while also potentially forcing her to slide out of position. It’s harder to be a reactive goalie when the play is happening in the mid-range part of the zone as there’s just more crease to cover when moving compared to when the play is in-close.

Amanda Leveille (Signed One-Year)

Natalie Darwitz or someone on her staff must have been a big fan of the Hannah Montana show because Amanda Leveille is the best of both worlds. Or in this case, she’s a combination of Nicole Hensley and Maddie Rooney. I know I have Leveille 3rd on this list of Minnesota goalies though that’s mostly because I’m guessing at how Minnesota views their goalie situation as Hensley got a three-year deal, Rooney a two-year deal, and Leveille only a one-year deal. Leveille’s résumé is anything but no. 3 quality though and no one should be shocked if she ends up as the no. 1 goalie. In the NCAA Leveille has three National Championships, two of them as the no. 1 goalie with the University of Minnesota.

She’s also the clear-cut Greatest Goalie in PHF History. Two Isobel Cups and two Goalie of the Year awards. Then of course there’s the fact she’s the only goalie in PHF history with +35 wins (58) and +45 games played (95). Lead the league in All-Time Shutouts (8) and GSAA (51.499). The only thing she’s lacking is an international résumé which hard to blame her for considering how much talent Canada has in net. If Leveille ends up in the no. 1 role or in a 50/50 tandem, she’s going to end up with Rhéaume Trophy (PWHL Goalie of the Year) votes.

As mentioned above Leveille is a combination of Nicole Hensley and Maddie Rooney with more of a lean to Rooney’s style. Leveille is no slouch when it comes to moving around the crease. Her mobility is rather good and she’s not lacking in the agility department either. When Leveille intends to get in front of the puck she gets there with few issues. She also gets there with good positioning too, borrowing some of that from Hensley’s game. Hensley is on another level in a positional sense but where Leveille is at there’s no easy way to score, just ask the high-scoring Boston Pride from last season. She gets to where she needs to be quickly and does well in not sacrificing her positioning often. As a bonus, she has quite the eye for the puck so it’s very difficult to catch her by surprise even on a screen.

Where Leveille shares some negative aspects with Rooney is that she can be pulled out of position. Leveille likes some chaos but not a whole lot. She’s not as gifted in using her inner edges as Rooney is so while Leveille can handle some near-the-crease chaos it can’t be a lot. She’s better on her outer edges and uses a thinner base than Rooney does which is more akin to Hensley. For Leveille, she’s trying to toe the line between keeping her structure together, being fast in getting across the crease, and being efficient. She’s not an easy goalie to beat but there are those moments where you can take advantage. You just have to press the offensive initiative and create those Grade A Scoring Chances or you’re not leaving with many goals.

Montreal goalie: Ann-Renee Desbiens, Elaine Chuli, Marlene Boissonnault

Every team was given a chance this off-season to approach how they created their goalie trio. Now with how good the goalie talent pool was each team essentially were given a choice of what they wanted from each goalie. Minnesota rostered goalies who were all at about the same level of quality but each played a noticeably different style. Boston ensured that while the quality would go down the further down the goalie depth chart you went, they’d leave their coaching staff with a simple way of playing defence. Montréal went the same direction as Boston but took it even a step further and ensured that with their rostered goalies they’d only ever need to make minor adjustments to their defensive play no matter if they went to the no. 2 or no. 3 goalie on the depth chart. They essentially took a look at how they’d play defense in front of Ann-Renée Desbiens and figured out who could play the same way as Desbiens, while not caring too much about talent level. You’re not going to find a match out there to Desbiens’ talent, you can find goalies though who emulate how she plays which is what they found in Elaine Chuli and Marlène Boissonnault.

Ann-Renée Desbiens (Signed Three-Years)

This was a no-brainer signing right from the start. Grab yourself a Tier 1 elite goalie who you don’t even need to do much selling of the team and city on. There’s no arguing with the résumé that Desbiens has put together either. In three of the four years she spent in the NCAA, Desbiens was named WCHA Goalie of the Year. She won the Patty Kazmaier Award as NCAA MVP while also finishing as a Top 3 Finalist in the previous season. You’ll find Desbiens’ name 21 times in the Official NCAA Women’s D1 Hockey record book. Canada won three Gold Medals in a row (2021 WHC, 2022 Olympics, 2022 WHC) with Desbiens putting up great performances against the USA all three times (0.942 combined SV%). In the 22/23 PWHPA season, Desbiens was named Goalie of the Year and won the PWHPA championship. After not playing a competitive game since April 2023 Desbiens came into the 23/24 Rivalry Series keeping Canada’s hopes alive.

What makes Desbiens one of the few elite goalies in the game today is she’s an extremely smart goalie. Whether it comes to reading the play, positioning herself, or knowing how to react to a situation he just does it in a smart way. If Sweden could they’d claim Desbiens as their ultimate goalie creation as she just embodies what people call “Hockey IQ”. She can handle nearly any situation in front of her and it takes great plays from opposing teams to beat her. The USA needs to be on the power play to make it more fair for them to be able to score. Desbiens knows what the puck carrier is going to do and that skaters’ only hope is Desbiens can’t react fast enough physically to whatever happens next. Unfortunately for the vast majority of skaters, Desbiens can react physically in time to match what her mind has already processed.

How do you beat Desbiens is going to be the question every PWHL team is going to be asking themselves when matched against Montréal. The answer is rather simple, all you have to do is get into a situation that Desbiens can’t physically react in time to. Whether it’s a deflection to a part of the net she’s not covering, coming in on a breakaway or with time and space to pick you spot, or you’re able to get off a royal road pass those are the scoring opportunities they’ll be looking for. You know, the Grade A+ chances that teams can generate with no issues. For Montréal you can’t ask for any easier goalie to play in front of. Just don’t offer up Grade A+ scoring chances on a silver platter and all you’ll have to do is worry about scoring.

Elaine Chuli (Signed One-Year)

It’s not every day you have the most recent PWHPA champion starter (Ann-Renée Desbiens) and the most recent Isobel Cup champion starter as two of your goalies but Montréal has pulled it off with the drafting then signing of Elaine Chuli. Not many goalies get to have a career where people will later look back and be fascinated by their career path, Chuli is having that type of career. She finished her NCAA career with a 28-61-11 record and a 0.922 SV% which goes to show Chuli wasn’t the issue with the University of Connecticut hockey team. She takes a year off due to injury, is recruited to play for the new CWHL China team the Vanke Rays, and barely misses out on playoffs while putting up respectable numbers (3.441 GSAA/0.577 QS%). She plays a year with the Toronto Furies having an average year then of course the CWHL folds. Chuli comes to the PHF during the COVID-shortened season and really shines in her first full PHF season (2021/22) where she’s named PHF Goalie of the Year. Then follows that up with the aforementioned Isobel Cup win.

Where Chuli finds success and has made her name is being the very consistent presence behind very good defensive teams. The Toronto Six was a top-two defensive team in the PHF last season and Chuli absolutely thrived in that mid-low event environment. She thrived because she’s a goalie who sticks to her process and knows how to approach each situation in a way that’ll cover the optimal amount of net. It’s not to the same level of intelligence as Desbiens, but it’s still quite the asset to have. It’s like she has a file folder in her mind at how to approach each situation or at the very least how to position herself so she’s not putting herself in a vulnerable situation. It’s a mix of reading and being reactive to situations that ensures she’s never sacrificing initial positioning to make a save.

Having a mix of being reactive and being able to read the play at a near 50/50 split does have its downsides. You can always count on Chuli being well positioned on the first shot but can leave herself vulnerable to however the situation unfolds. She’s vulnerable because while she’s not a slow goalie physically her agility and mobility are assets insofar as ensuring she’s able to keep up with the play. Being able to make last-second reaction saves where she sticks out a limb or makes a sudden slide across are not tools she readily has at her disposal. Where it becomes easy for Montréal is they can continue delivering the same defensive play as when Desbiens is in net and at most expect an extra goal against every few games that Chuli plays. When it comes to predicting Chuli’s results it’s simple, if the team plays well defensively so will Chuli. If the team plays poorly defensively, Chuli’s results will suffer.

Marlène Boissonnault (No Confirmed Contract Length)

In hockey, it doesn’t matter what league it is. Could be the NHL, the SDHL, the PHF, or wherever. No matter what league every team, every GM, and coach wants a big goalie they can go to. In women’s hockey big typically means 5’ 10” and taller. This is because big goalies used to be considered 5’ 8” and taller so the goalies are seeing a growth spurt. Skaters are seeing these giants for the first time and haven’t found a consistent means of scoring on them yet. We just watched the University of Wisconsin win with 6’ 0” Cami Kronish in her first year seeing over five games in the NCAA and at the 2023 WHC 5’ 10” Blanka Škodová backstops the Czechs to a Bronze Medal after getting into three games with the University of Minnesota-Duluth. Naturally, Montréal needed one of these giants and found one in Marlène Boissonnault.

Just being a big goalie doesn’t guarantee you any sort of success. Goalies are being scored on despite being over 6’ 6” so being 5’ 10” doesn’t turn you into a literal wall. What turns you into a literal wall is knowing how to use your size. In the case of Boissonnault, she knows how to use that size to her advantage. Stick to your structure, stick to your positioning, hold your edges, and let the play come to you. That is Boissonnault’s mantra and it’s worked for her so far. She had a good career with Cornell University and in her two PWHPA starts this past season (22/23) Boissonnault posted a 1.000 QS%, 0.819 GSAA, and 0.934 SV%. It’s unsurprising the coach she played under in Kori Cheverie with Team Harvey’s where Boissonnault had that level of success, is back to team up again in Montréal.

As I mentioned before Montréal’s goal with putting this goalie trio together was to ensure that no matter which goalie was in net only minor adjustments would be needed defensively. Boissonnault fits into that mold rather well. Once again Montréal’s concerns will be covering up Boissonnault not being the most fleet of foot goalie or being quick. With Boissonnault in net, the goal of Montréal will be quickly cleaning up any chaos in front of the net and preventing Boissonnault from needing to move a whole lot laterally. Otherwise, you’re fine with opposing teams sending shots towards the goal as Boissonnault doesn’t leave a lot to shoot at leaving you with few options to score. Even on the rush, you’re okay with giving up shots as long as you can prevent any lateral passes or lateral movement. Keep the opponent playing north-south and Boissonnault will give you the win.

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